November 08, 2014

Virgin Media Q3 2014 results

Virgin Media's Q3 2014 results Investor Press Release:

We have built strong operational momentum during 2014. We achieved our lowest ever annual customer churn since
Virgin Media was formed in 2007. Our record low annual customer churn of 14.9% has contributed to cable customer
growth more than doubling to 35,000, the highest quarterly customer additions since Q4 2012.The number of subscribers to each of our cable products increased, with 88,000 organic RGUs added YTD, including
70,000 in Q3, compared to declines of 16,000 and 7,000 in the respective prior year periods. This can be partially
attributed to the successful launch of our "Big Bundles" in Q2 2014, which offer combinations of our cable products
and resulted in the acquisition of more double- and triple-play customers than during the same period last year. Average
Monthly Revenue per Customer Relationship increased 2% to £48.98 year-over-year.
The number of internet subscribers we serve grew organically by 83,000 YTD, including 49,000 in Q3. At quarter end,
2.5 million, or 56%, of these broadband customers took super-fast speeds of 50 Mbps or faster. The 431,000 increase
in subscribers taking such speeds in Q3 was bolstered by our speed upgrade. We remain the clear speed leader in
the fixed broadband market in the U.K., as confirmed by the U.K. regulator, Ofcom, in their latest broadband speeds
report published in October 2014.
Our performance in television has improved with 5,000 additional subscribers during Q3, compared to a 13,000 loss
in Q3 2013. Our television attrition of 15,000 RGUs YTD also represents a significant improvement on the 42,000 loss
in the first nine months of last year. The number of households with Virgin Media TiVo increased by 148,000 in Q3 to
2.4 million or 64% of all our television subscribers. We have continued to enhance our TV offering since the end of Q2
2014 with the addition of 12 new TV channels, including four new Sky Sports HD channels and a further 21 channels
for our multi-screen service Virgin TV Anywhere. Our customers can now watch up to 113 channels over WiFi on
smartphones and tablets. The Big Bundles also contributed to a 16,000 telephony subscriber increase in Q3 compared
to a 24,000 loss in Q3 2013.
During Q3, we began upgrading some legacy network to extend our digital cable services to a further 100,000 homes
in East London. When completed, this digital upgrade will enable these households to subscribe to super-fast broadband
and TiVo for the first time. We have also begun small network extensions elsewhere, including Glasgow and Teesside,
and we will continue to evaluate opportunities to expand our digital cable network as they arise.